World should long remember Civil War's brave men

Standing on a hill called Little Round Top, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a professor of rhetoric and modern languages at Bowdoin College in Maine, was in a tough spot. His regiment, the 20th Maine, had suffered many casualties and was running out of ammunition but couldn’t retreat. If they did, the entire Union army, and possibly the war, could be lost.

He ordered his men to fix bayonets. They charged down the hill into what could have been a slaughter. They knew they could easily be killed, but they charged and routed the attacking Confederate troops. They protected the Union line, and the Battle of Gettysburg became a defining moment in the Civil War.

I spent many hours as a kid walking the Gettysburg battlefield, and although I didn’t know the story the way I do today, it fired my imagination. I remember standing at what was the high tide of the Confederacy, the farthest point reached in Pickett’s Charge. I tried to imagine the courage it required for Pickett’s Division to charge across that open field under a blinding storm of fire. I thought about Gen. Lewis Armistead, leading his soldiers, his hat on his sword to show the way.

The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg will be celebrated this week. It is a part of American history that I think is worth remembering and learning about. Kids today probably are not taught a lot of Civil War history. They know the reasons, that it was a war to free the slaves. They may hear about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, but they probably do not hear the stories

One story is of John L. Burns, a 69-year-old Scotsman from Gettysburg who convinced the 150th Pennsylvania Regiment to let him join them and became an effective sharpshooter for the Union army during the battle until he was wounded in the leg and arm. When President Abraham Lincoln visited the battlefield he singled out Burns and joined him for a walk.

Then there is Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, who was involved in many engagements over the three days, but as Pickett’s Division swept across the field of death, he commanded troops defending against Gen. Armistead. Hancock and Armistead were best friends, and when Hancock learned the Confederate general was dying, he was unable to go to see him because he had been wounded and did not want to leave the field for the sake of morale.

There are many stories and many moments. Gettysburg and the other battles of the Civil War are history worth passing on. Not only did the war accomplish the great task of ending slavery, it was fought by many men of courage, often people from simple roots, the farmers and fishermen that made up the 20th Maine, Irish immigrants in the Irish Brigade, factory workers and others who left their homes to defend this nation and to fight to end slavery.

After Gettysburg, the war dragged on for two more years. Every city and town in Massachusetts felt the loss from the war. Families lost all their children to the war. There was much bitter fighting to come, but Gettysburg turned the corner for the Union. After the battle, it was obvious the South could not sustain the fighting.

A war that took place 150 years ago probably seems like ancient history to kids wired to be constantly looking for the next new thing. They may think it is boring. They know war as a fast-paced video game. The Civil War was the last American war fought in the Napoleonic style of two grand armies lining up against each other and crashing together until one gave in. Later wars were all about the machinery of death, but the Civil War was still a soldiers’ war, in which courage and determination mattered.

Contact George Barnes at gbarnes@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgebarnesTG.